14. JanuarySpeak your everlasting Yes: work and do not despair. At the very heart of distress everything turns — and becomes strength. 21. JanuaryIf you carve and do not let up, even stone and metal will yield. The noble steed cannot leap ten paces in a single bound — but the tough old nag reaches the goal because it does not stop. 9. FebruaryThe kite rises not with the wind but against it. Only the resistance lifts it — what stands against it carries it upward. 14. FebruaryWhat would Heracles have become without the lion, the Hydra, the boar? What would he have done if there had been nothing of the kind? He would have rolled over in bed and slept. Slumbering in luxury, he would never have become Heracles. 2. JuneNo tree stands firm that the wind has not often shaken. It is through the very shaking that it grows firm and drives its roots deeper. 20. JuneDifficulty is the nurse of ability. Anyone who has never met resistance has never come to know their full strength. 30. JuneDo not avoid the obstacle; go through it. What stands in your way is itself the way you have come to practise. 9. JulyFrom the military school of life: What does not kill me makes me stronger.